(1861-65) Copper Civil War Store Card F-165AH-11a, Geo. R. Dixon & Co. OH

Coin Details

Auction Record

$480 Cleaned 04-15-2021 Stack's Bowers

Description

Civil War-era store card from Geo. R. Dixon & Co., a Cincinnati, Ohio business. Cincinnati's position as a Union Army supply center and Ohio River trade hub made it a prolific source of Civil War tokens. John Stanton and other die sinkers based in the city produced dies for merchants across the Midwest. Geo. R. Dixon & Co. produced 20 cataloged die varieties, reflecting a substantial token operation. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 165AH-11a) is common. Die sinkers offered merchants a choice of metals, with copper being cheapest and most common, while silver and gold were struck for collectors. Civil War tokens addressed a practical problem: the wartime disappearance of federal small change made daily transactions nearly impossible without private substitutes. The cent-sized format was chosen deliberately to match the federal Indian Head cent, the coin most conspicuously absent from daily commerce.

Rarity Notes

Copper strikings are generally the most common metal variant for Civil War store cards, as copper was the standard planchet material mimicking the federal cent. With 20 cataloged varieties, Geo. R. Dixon & Co. was a moderately active token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 165AH-11a